An office worker is seeking compensation after the hiring manager refused to greet her three times and gave two colleagues pay rises without telling her.

An office worker will receive compensation after her hiring manager broke labor laws by refusing to greet her.

Andrew Gilchrist refused to greet Nadine Hanson three times when she arrived at work, an employment tribunal in Leeds heard.

Gilchrist was reportedly angry with Ms Hanson because she thought she was late, but had no idea she had been to a doctor’s appointment.

The 62-year-old then gave two colleagues pay rises without telling them within an hour of confronting them.

Her behavior led to Ms Hanson winning a claim for unfair dismissal, with employment judge Sarah Davies concluding her behavior was “unreasonable” and likely. to “undermine trust and confidence.”

Mr Gilchrist, who had just taken over the business, was “deliberately undermining” regional operations director Ms Hanson in an attempt to force her to leave, it was heard.

Andrew Gilchrist, pictured, refused to greet Nadine Hanson three times when she arrived for work, an employment tribunal in Leeds heard.

He put her phone away when she tried to explain she had a date, suggested she “go away” and went behind her back giving two staff raises without informing her.

Ms Hanson, who eventually quit and suffered anxiety over how she was treated by Mr Gilchrist, has now successfully sued her company for unfair dismissal.

She also won a claim for unauthorized deduction from wages after Mr Gilchrist withheld her sick pay because he thought she was faking being unwell.

Ms Hanson is now in line to receive compensation from Interaction Recruitment Ltd, which has 30 offices across the UK.

“This is conduct, on the part of the owner and director of the new employer, which is calculated or likely to undermine trust,” the judge said.

“Although it might not, on its own, constitute a fundamental breach of contract, it was capable of contributing to that breach.”

The court heard that Ms Hanson was the Northern Regional Operations Manager in Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, working for another recruitment company.

In September 2023, Interaction Recruitment acquired the company and managing director, Mr. Gilchrist, traveled to the Scunthorpe office to meet Ms Hanson and two other members of staff who worked with her.

The court, in Leeds, found that after a “getting to know you” meeting of less than an hour, Mr Gilchrist made a “snap judgement” of Ms Hanson who was not pulling her weight, all and that it was not justified.

A court report said: “It is equally clear that Mr Gilchrist quickly got the impression that (Ms Hanson) ‘did very little work and left his two colleagues to do the work’ and that he” I wasn’t happy.”

“Apparently this was based on a ‘get to know you’ team meeting that lasted less than an hour with everyone present, and without any proper information about what (she) did or proper discussion with her about it.”

Days later, he paid an unannounced visit to the Scunthorpe office.

“She (Ms Hanson) arrived earlier. She arrived late that day because she had a doctor’s appointment. It was a busy day because they had arranged for a number of candidates to come in and be interviewed. There were about eight candidates filling out forms when (she ) arrived.

“(Mrs Hanson’s) evidence is that she said good morning to Mr Gilchrist three times but he ignored her.

“Then he said to him, in front of his colleagues: ‘I suggest you go to the meeting room.’

“They went into the meeting room. She tried to show him her phone with evidence from her medical appointment, but he pushed it away.

Gilchrist was “deliberately undermining” regional operations manager Ms Hanson in an attempt to force her to leave, an employment tribunal in Leeds (pictured) heard.

“He said, ‘I suggest that if you don’t want to be here, you leave.'” She replied, “After 20 years with the company, the only way I’m going to leave is if you fire me.”

‘The meeting became quite heated. He tried to explain to Mr. Gilchrist how he played his part.

Gilchrist claimed in court that he “couldn’t remember” if he said hello because he was so busy, but said he believes he said “hello to everybody”.

The court found her evidence “not entirely convincing” and heard that an hour after the incident with Ms Hanson, she emailed her two direct reports giving them a pay rise .

Ms Hanson was “humiliated” that she was not informed.

In October 2023, Ms Hanson handed in her eight-week notice, saying she had “felt undervalued” and that it had left her “feeling undermined and causing her sleepless nights, discomfort and anxiety”.

She was fired with anxiety during her notice period, but the court heard that Mr Gilchrist refused to pay her sick pay because he did not believe her.

Ms Hanson won claims of unfair dismissal and unauthorized deduction of wages.

In concluding, Employment Judge Sarah Davies said it was “implausible” that Mr Gilchrist did not hear Ms Hanson’s greeting and “deliberately” ignored her.

Judge Davies said: “I think there was no reasonable or adequate cause for deliberately ignoring her when he arrived at work, even though she greeted him three times.

“This is conduct, by the owner and director of the new employer, which is calculated or likely to undermine trust and confidence. Although it might not, in itself, be a fundamental breach of contract, it was capable of contributing to that breach

“I think Mr Gilchrist had already formed an adverse view that (she) was not pulling her weight, he made an unannounced visit to check on her and was not happy that she was late.

“He took her into the back room to deal with it. He put his cell phone away when she tried to show him her doctor’s appointment and went straight for the criticism.

“Even though (Mrs Hanson) had not disengaged, I have no hesitation in finding that Mr Gilchrist had disengaged from her.

“By the end of their conversation on 26 September 2023, she had clearly formed the view that (she) had no future with the business.

“That wasn’t because he’d disengaged. It was because he’d formed a snap judgment that she wasn’t pulling her weight; he’d been unhappy that she was late for work after a doctor’s appointment he didn’t know about ; and had told him that he had to leave if he didn’t want to be there.

“When he told her the only way to go was if they fired her, she determined she had no future with the business.

“That’s why he offered pay rises to his staff within an hour and without discussing it with her.

“The situation wasn’t that urgent … I just didn’t want (Ms. Hanson) there anymore.”

Compensation will be determined later.